The present invention relates to a removable RAM package for a data acquisition system. In particular, the present invention has utility in an ambulatory medical monitor such as an ambulatory blood pressure monitoring system.
A number of portable monitoring devices are used in medical monitoring. One well known device is the so-called Holter monitor which is an EKG monitor which typically uses a magnetic tape recorder to record EKG signals from a patient over extended periods of time. A patient whose EKG is being monitored usually wears a Holter monitor for 24 hours, during which time the monitor records EKG signals for later analysis by a physician.
Heretofore, very few portable monitoring devices existed for obtaining blood pressure readings over extended periods of time. The reason for this was twofold. First of all, there are very few automatic, non-invasive blood pressure monitoring devices in use today. Second, an improved recording means for collecting data in a portable blood pressure monitoring unit did not exist.
One known non-invasive blood pressure monitoring unit is the blood pressure cuff designed and sold by VitaStat Medical Services, Inc. and described more fully in U.S. Pat. No. 4,206,765 entitled CUFF MECHANISM which issued to T. G. Huber on June 10, 1980. This particular unit requires an air pump to pump up the cuff each time a reading is taken. Accordingly, an ambulatory blood pressure monitoring device must include means for energizing the air pump. While a battery would be suitable to provide electric power to the air pump, so much power is required to operate the air pump that some means of preserving battery power would also be desirable.